Techniques of Demand Forecasting

Broadly speaking, there are two approaches to demand forecasting– one is to obtain information about the likely purchase behavior of the buyer through collecting expert’s opinion or by conducting interviews with consumers, the other is to use past experience as a guide through a set of statistical techniques. Both these techniques of demand forecasting  rely on varying degrees of judgment. The first method is usually found suitable for short-term forecasting, the latter for long-term forecasting. There are specific techniques which fall under each of these broad methods. Judgmental Approaches to Forecasting By their nature, judgment-based forecasts use subjective and qualitative data to  forecast future outcomes. They inherently rely on expert opinion, experience, judgment, intuition, conjecture, and other “soft” data. Such techniques are often used when historical data are not available, as is the case with the introduction of a new product or service, and in forecasting the impact of fundamental Continue reading

Talent Retention Best Practices

Talent retention is not a new problem, but it seems to be ever more critical. The question of attracting the brightest and best talents is a key issue for successful companies. Today with large signing bonuses and very attractive salaries and benefits, the more perplexing question is how to best build the loyalty of the talented people. The more talents organizations retain, the more talents they’ll attract. Organizations should focus on designing a sustainable career package that supports a graduate’s continuous professional and personal development. It is important that an organization keeps track of each individual’s changing needs and priorities. This will be down to the job of a coach or a mentor who should carry the long-term and important responsibility of coaching and mentoring the graduates. Being new to the organization, graduates require continuous feedback and coaching to help them to assimilate well and be successful in their role. Continue reading

Reasons for the Increased Diversification by Business Firms

Growth through mergers and diversification represents a very good alternative to be taken into account in business planning. The external growth contributes to opportunities for effective alignment to the firm’s changing environments. The primary reason for acquiring or merging with another business is to produce improved cash flow or to reduce the risk faster or at a lower cost than achieving the same goal internally. Thus, the goal of any acquisition is to create a strategic advantage by paying a price for the target that is lower than the total resources required for internal development of a similar strategic position. Another reason is the expectation on the part of the diversifying or acquiring firm that it has or will have excess capacity of general managerial capabilities in relation to its existing product market activities. Moreover, there is an expectation that in the process of interacting with the generic management activities, Continue reading

Effect of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment on Individuals Behavior

Job satisfaction and organizational commitment are the two of the prominent work attitudes that seen in the work environment. Job satisfaction is an emotional response to a job situation while organizational commitment is the strong feeling of responsibility an employee has towards the mission of the organization. Job satisfaction is simply how people feel about their jobs and different aspects of their job. People can either like (satisfaction) and dislike (dissatisfaction) their job. According to Frederick Herzberg, he believed that employees can like their job because various contributions it has. These contribution involves the work itself, pay, promotions, job achievement, co-worker, supervision and benefits contribute to employees satisfy with their job. He called it motivators. If employees are not satisfied with their job then the productions of the organization with not grow. Manager will see their employees as lazy and they will assume that they don’t want to work. This Continue reading

Case Study of Zara : Application of Business Intelligence in Retail Industry

ZARA is a Spanish clothing and accessories retailer based in Arteixo, Galicia.  Founded in 24 May ,1975 by Amancio Ortega and Rosalía Mera, the brand is renowned for it’s ability to deliver new clothes to stores quickly and in small batches. Zara needs just two weeks to develop a new product and get it to stores, compared to the six-month industry average, and launches around 10,000 new designs each year. Zara was described by Louis Vuitton Fashion Director Daniel Piette as “possibly the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world.  The company produces about 450 million items a year for its 1,770 stores in 86 countries. The Zara has made of use of Information Systems (IS) and to advance in many areas. This has resulted in huge success for the company. This included application of Business intelligence (BI) involves technologies, practices for collection, integration and applications to analyze and Continue reading

Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

At the work place the ability to exercise clear and sound judgement in situations that the jobs role presents solely depends on the emotional intelligence employees possess. It encompasses the ability to manage their own impulses, cope with change, effectively communicate with others, and solve problems and being able to make use of humor to defuse a tense situation. Such employees have the ability to empathize with others, are optimistic in the face of down turns and are effective in resolving customer complaints. Therefore emotional intelligence plays a vital role in separating top performers from weak ones at the work place. At the work place certain emotional quotient competencies correlate with each other to make it a successful place, such competencies include; 1. Social Competencies Social competencies describe a person’s ability to handle relationships. Inherent in the person is the awareness of the feelings and concerns of others. The social Continue reading